First, there was the capitulation. Wests, a team who surprised everyone by finishing the season in second place, were dismissed for 37 in the major semi-final clash on Saturday after winning the toss and batting. It was the lowest total for any team this season. Heath Falkenmire top-scored with nine in the 34-over flop.

Teenage left-arm orthodox spinner Jack Richards produced his best career figures – 5-14 off 9.1 overs – and veteran allrounder Aaron Hazlewood claimed 4-15 off 16 overs, his best figures of the season.

Then there was Old Boys opener Simon Norvill’s batting pyrotechnics, a 35-ball century that included 13 fours and eight sixes. He finished on 114 not out off 41 balls. Old Boys skipper Ben Middlebrook, a 24-year first-grade cricketer, can’t remember a faster ton: “The best I’ve seen is about 50, so 32 balls [35], that’s pretty quick.”

Finally, there was West captain David Mudaliar’s decision to concede the match at about 4pm on day one of the two-dayer, meaning only three hours of cricket had been played. He said he wanted to spare his shell-shocked teammates further damage: “To be honest, as much as I like to stay in games as much as possible, there’s a point at which the game is done and you need to be conscious about what's coming up next week.”

Norvill was a beast. After he hit spinner Harrison Kelly for three consecutive sixes to close out an over, a Wests teammate suggested that Kelly bowl underarm. He did not get another over.

When the match ended, Old Boys had reached 1-135 in 16 overs. Middlebrook, like everyone else, it seemed, was surprised by Mudaliar’s decision.

Wests will play the winner of the minor semi-final between South Tamworth and City United in the preliminary final at No.1 Oval next weekend. That match is still underway, with Souths finishing on 8-210 on day one after winning the toss and batting.

If Wests advance to the grand final, it is hard to image them beating Old Boys. Mudaliar admitted that the reigning four-time premiers mentally owned his side – Saturday’s flaying their fourth loss to Old Boys this season. They have not beaten Old Boys.

“To be honest,” he said, “I think we’ve got just a massive psychological hurdle against those guys … It’s one of those tough ones, where you’re up against the premiers, they've won [the premiership] many times, and there’s that psychological hurdle.”

He added: “We’re not a polished semi-final team. We’ve come from nowhere this season and they [Old Boys] really know what to do in those situations.”

Middlebrook said Wests imploded by playing “get-out” shots. “I guess it’s their first finals in a while for a lot of those blokes,” he said, “and they’ll be better for the experience next week.”

For Old Boys, he said everything was “going according to plan”. “We’re there [in the grand final]. We’ve given ourselves another chance to go for [premiership] number five.”

The seasoned Norvill said it was the best he had “consistently” hit the ball clean in an innings. “So, yeah, that was really good fun … It’s always nice when you’re seein’ ’em like that.”